


Deja Vu/Digital Rain

by TonksForever36



Category: The Matrix (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-04-13 13:57:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14113827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TonksForever36/pseuds/TonksForever36
Summary: It all started with the dog, that stupid damn dog.





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter One-The Unreal Rain

It all started with the dog, that stupid damn dog. I was skateboarding home from school when it happened. It was the middle of February and unusually warm. It hadn't been snowing, but raining a lot. I saw a mother and her puppies walking down the sidewalk, when one of them ran across the street. The mother chased after the puppy but got hit by a car. The puppy ran up to me, and cowered at my feet. 

At that moment, it started to rain, and the puppy started to shiver. I picked him up and put him inside my jacket to keep him warm. It was raining so hard, I knew I wouldn't be able to make it home, so I picked up my skateboard and decided to go to Michael's house. He's my friend...sort of. We go to the same school, but I'm in 12th grade, and he's in 11th. 

The only things we have in common is skateboarding and computers.  
I haven't told him or anyone this, but I'm a hacker, and although he hasn't told me, I think Michael is too.

I got to his house, and needless to say, Michael was definitely not expecting me.

"Sierra, hi, come in," he said. What's going on?"

At that moment, the puppy poked its head out of my jacket, and began to whimper.  Michael looked from the puppy to me, and then took it just as I stepped in the living room, and his mom came in.  He took the dog into the kitchen and dried it off, and I took my hair out of its ponytail and dried my hair. 

We threw my clothes in the dryer, and I put a pair of sweatpants and t-shirt that Michael gave me.  I called my mom and let her know I wouldn't be home, while Michael rummaged round in the refrigerator and found some leftover stew.  He picked sone meat and vegetables out, and the puppy ate it like it was going out of style. 

“Would you like some, Sierra?” Michael asked.  I didn't hear him at first.  I was too busy thinking about why it had been raining so much, and why the rain just didn't feel right.  I don't dare say this to anyone.  I'm afraid everyone will think I'm insane, and I'll be sent away. 

“Sierra, are you OK?” Michael asked. 

“What?” I responded. 

“Are you okay?” 

“Yeah, sorry, I'm fine.  What did you ask?” 

“If you'd like some stew.” 

“Oh, yeah, sure, thanks.” 

“No problem.” 

I ate all of it, except for the carrots. “Why didn't you eat your carrots, Sierra?” Michael asked. 

“I don't like carrots, I never have.  They don't taste right.” I replied. 

 

Michael looked at me as if he knew what I meant, but didn't say anything.

We cleaned up our dishes, did our homework, and then concentrated on the puppy, who by that point had fallen asleep curled up at my feet.

We named him Red, and felt around for one of those microchips.  We couldn't find one, so we took pictures of Red with my digital camera, and made fliers on Michael's computer.  

We decided to go around tomorrow, ask if anyone knew anything about Red and post the fliers.  If we don't have any luck, we'll drop him off at the shelter.  At least he'll be safe there, and hopefully someone will claim him.

We found a box for Red to sleep in and an old blanket to keep him warm.

We stayed up late watching movies, those old ones from the fifties.  We laughed a lot at them.  They're really easy to make fun of.

We fell asleep around one in the morning.  Late, but at least it's Saturday.  Michael let me sleep on his fold out chair and lent me his extra pillow and blanket.  I fell asleep with Red curled up at my feet.

I woke a few hours later, because of the thunder.  It had scared Red, and he was shaking.  Eventually he calmed down and went back to sleep.  As I was putting him back in his box, I looked out the window.

The lightning flashed, and the rain turned green.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I woke the next morning, grateful the rainstorm was over. I never want to see the rain turn green again as long as I live. I went looking for Red and realized he was asleep on my pillow. I sat up and noticed my clothes were hanging on the back of Michael's door. I put on my black jeans, white lace top and my black velvet steampunk jacket. I brushed and pigtail braided my hair. It's reddish brown, but sometimes looks dark brown. I like the first color better. At least my eyes are always dark green.

I went to reach for my boots and found Red staring at them as if he'd never seen anything like them before. I picked them up and he pounced on the laces and tried to pull on them with his puppy teeth. I laughed and said, “My boots aren't food nor are they a tug toy, but if you're hungry, let's go downstairs and get some breakfast.”

Red followed me down the hall, but it took him a while to get down the stairs. I guess he's not used to walking downstairs with his little puppy legs. He followed me into the kitchen and Michael gave him some more stew. He ate it all again, still like it was going out of style.

“He's got a good appetite, Sierra,” Michael said, joining me at the table. “Would you like some breakfast?”

“Sure,” I replied. We both had quick bowls of cereal, and gave Red a little bowl of milk. 

Red had been playing with my shoelaces the entire time, and Michael practically had to pry him off. We found a bit of rope in the garage to use as a makeshift leash, gathered up our backpacks, the fliers, and went off into the city, stopping to put a flier up on the bulletin board outside our school.

“Michael,” I said, as we were walking down the street, and Red was sniffing at everything in sight. “I was thinking maybe we should stop by the shelter first and see if anyone has reported Red missing, or would it be better to put the fliers up first, and then go to the shelter?”

“I think it would make more sense, Sierra, to ask around first, and see if anyone knows Red, and put up some fliers, and if we don't have any luck, then we could drop him off at the shelter.”

“OK, well Red ran up to me in front of the library, and if his owner was with him around there, then maybe they'll be there looking for him,” I said. “I have to drop off some books, and get some more for school anyway.”

“Me too,” Michael said. “Something to do with this paper for history class. I'm not even sure what it's about.”

“I can help you if you want,” I said. 

“Thanks, Sierra,” Michael said.

“You're welcome,” I replied, smiling.

“You have a pretty smile,” Michael said.

“Thanks,” I replied, kneeling down to pet Red, mainly so he wouldn't see me blush.  
We walked around the city, asking if anyone knew Red and hung up the fliers. No one seemed to have heard of him or his mother. We waited in front of the library for a while since that's where I first saw him, and I was hoping against hope his owner would come claim him. We hung up a flier on every bulletin board we could find in the library also.

“I hate to say this, Sierra, but our only choice seems to drop him at the animal shelter and hope for the best.”

“I guess you're right. We can drop off Red, then maybe come back and do our research for your paper.”

We walked the few blocks to the shelter and asked if anyone had come in inquiring about Red. They said no, but I found out that he was a dachshund. I filled out a form explaining how I'd found him, how I'd saw his mother run into the street after him, and that I'd seen at least 3 more puppies, maybe four They scanned him for a microchip but didn't find anything, and since no one had reported him missing, they'd put him in a cage with a blanket , food, and water. I left one of the last fliers on the bulletin board at the shelter. 

We went back to the library and set on the steps for a while talking.

“Sierra, can I ask you a question? You don't have to answer it if you don't want to.”

“Sure,” I said.

“Do you ever feel like there's something wrong with the world? I don't just mean how you don't like carrots because they don't taste right, but like the world isn't real.”

If I hadn't seen the green rain last night, I would've thought Michael had gone insane. I took a breath and said, “I didn't want to tell you or anyone else this, for fear you would think I was crazy, but last night during the storm, Red woke up because he was scared, and I was holding him, I saw a flash of lightning and I swear for a split second the rain turned green. It almost looked digital. You probably think I'm crazy now right?”

“No, Sierra, I don't,” Michael said. “For some reason, what you just said makes perfect sense to me, considering it hasn't for a very long time, ever since my dad left, or maybe disappeared is a better word.”

“What do you mean, disappeared?”

“About five years ago, I woke up one morning to find out that my dad was just gone. I asked my mom what had happened, since as far as I know they hadn't been fighting or anything, and my mom said that I'd never had a father since the day I was born, but I know that's not true.”

 

“My dad disappeared a few years ago, too, only my mom told me they'd been having problems. I heard them talking late at night sometimes, but nothing that sounded like arguing, and one day I got home from school, my mom told me that he'd left and was never coming back. Since then, about once a month, she disappears for a few days, saying she has to go away on business, but when she comes back, she won't talk about it.”

“I'm sorry that happened to you, Sierra,” Michael said.

“I'm sorry this happened to you, too,” I replied.

Not wanting to talk about this anymore, we got some hot dogs from the vendor outside the library. We then went inside to return my books, pick up my other ones, and help Michael with his history paper. We didn't get much work done, though. We mainly kept laughing until we nearly got thrown out.

We got up from our table leaving our backpacks behind. I don't know why we did that. When we got back to our table, we saw a woman dressed in black and with black hair we're pretty damn sure we hadn't seen before walking away from our table as if she were trying to get away quickly without being seen. We tried to catch up with her wanting to ask if she wanted to know about Red, but seemed to disappear before we could.

We looked at each other, shrugged, and left the library. We went back to Michael's house to get my skateboard and my schoolbooks. I called my mom to let her know I was on my way, and skateboarded home with Michael. He's really good at skateboarding. He's probably been at it longer than I have. I've been at hacking for a year or two now, and am amazed I haven't been caught, probably because I'm smart enough not to go by my real name.

Michael stayed for dinner. We ordered some Chinese food, and ate it while we watched one of those movie's from the 1950's. I don't know why they're so easy to make fun of, but they are. It was getting late by the time the movie was over, getting cold, so Michael decided to go home, but not before we said we would get together once a week, every Friday, to watch movies either at my house or his.

We got a few calls about Red, most of them came during school, but no matter, as we'd changed our voicemail greetings to say he'd been left at the shelter. I met with Michael everyday to help him with his paper, finishing it the day before it was due. I hope he gets a good grade, even though I helped, he did most of the work himself.

I looked on the animals shelter's website to see if Red had been adopted or claimed by his owner. I couldn't find anything about him, even when I hacked the website. It got weirder when I stopped by the shelter on the way home from school to ask about him. The person claimed a red dachshund puppy hadn't been dropped off and they didn't have one.

I shrugged it off as a miscommunication, and went home, did my homework, and checked one more time on the shelter's website. This time I found information about Red, saying that if he wasn't claimed in a certain period of time, he and his brothers and sisters who had also been found, would be put up for adoption. I went to bed, and thought nothing more of it, until exactly one week later, it happened again.


End file.
